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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22761823">A long journey for ones so small</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clovercove/pseuds/Clovercove'>Clovercove</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adorable Monkey D. Luffy, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Cute, Fluff, Gen, Luffy Being Luffy, Nakamaship, Sabo needs more attention honestly, ace being angsty, as always, being forced from your home and sold on a slavery ship will do that to ya, but we'll get their when we get their, but whitebeard, giant boar?, i love you bby, i'll add to the tags as we go on, if you get that reference please comment so i can murder you, luffy's a sweetie, more like bore Ragnar-, the ASL boy are a bit trauma ridden but when are they not, the whitebeard pirates will help them though, they all have fun, until they dont, whitebeards take in the ASL trio, you can rip Thatch from my cold dead hands, you know the drill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:54:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22761823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clovercove/pseuds/Clovercove</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ace, Sabo, and Luffy have tried, for so long, to get back to dawn island. to get back to Dadan and Makino and see their shitty Geezer of a grandpa again. But, even in the East Blue, the waters are dangerous and many obstacles prevent them from doing so. They believe that they'll be alone and lost for the rest of their lives. That is, until two certain whitebeard commanders find them and take them to their ship, intent on helping them. what the whitebeard crew don't expect, however, was to grow attached to the three brats. what have they gotten themselves into?</p><p>   or, an obligatory whitbeard ASL fic with cute Luffy's, sweet moments, and an ever-suffering phoenix.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Portgas D. Ace &amp; Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace &amp; Sabo, Portgas D. Ace &amp; Whitebeard Pirates, Sabo (One Piece) &amp; Whitebeard Pirates, asl &amp; whitebeard pirates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>455</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A non-conventional meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy’s head hurt. It felt like thousands of swords were hacking away at his head with vigor unlike any known to man. His eyes felt glued shut and his limbs felt like concrete blocks pinned to his sides. Oddly enough, despite these feelings he also felt like he was floating. He was weightless, serene and ethereal in his own little bubble only inhabited by himself. He felt like garbage. But he felt like nice garbage. </p><p>   That little bubble was popped the second he was shaken awake by his brothers panicked voice shooting through his head, causing the pain to worsen. He begrudgingly opened his eyes and shot the offender a dirty glare. Said offender shot back an unimpressed look before lugging Luffy off the ground, forcing his body to adapt to the weight now present in his legs. “C’mon Luffy, we don’t have time for this! We gotta escape or we’ll miss the island!” his other brother urged from beside him. “Fine. But I'm getting some of your food afterwards. You and Aces” Luffy groaned as Ace stopped supporting the rest of his body weight. Sabo nodded and Ace scoffed, though both winced when Luffy bumped his head on the wall. Migraines hurt like hell, and Ace and Sabo could do nothing but sympathize with the young boy as they slinked across the ship towards the deck. </p><p>   The week had been going great. They were only kidnapped twice so far and managed to get out of both situations relatively unharmed and even managed to sneak some food off the ships. However, if the three boys learned anything from their days at sea it was that life loved to screw them over. When they finally got to the island they were wanting to reach (courtesy of the multiple trading ships and marine ships) they were almost immediately kidnapped by some creeps who thought they could get a few bucks out of them. What added salt to the wound was that earlier, Luffy had been struck in the head by their second kidnappers of the week and had a concussion as well as a splitting migraine. Life just had a way of bringing the worst out of people. So naturally they didn’t want to stick around but due to Luffy’s current state and Ace and Sabo’s deteriorating health they were forced to watch as their dream island got farther and farther away. Said island was a port for trading ships and was their ticket back to Dawn Island. </p><p>   Despite the unfortunate circumstances, all three boys knew they’ve been through much worse and they needed to move as soon as possible. And so they moved. Ace growled as one of the Creeps was gaining on the slow paced Luffy, and in quick succession grabbed Luffy’s arm and launched off the deck of the ship. Sabo wasn’t far behind, clocking one of the men in the face with his pipe before diving after his brothers. Their landing wasn’t graceful in the slightest, but it got the job done. Before the Pirates could even begin pursuing them the brothers were out of sight, lost in the maze of houses inhabiting the new island. </p><p>   “Ah, Sabo! You're really strong!” Luffy sang out as he was pulled by Ace across the village. “I know. I’ve been practicing” Sabo shouted proudly, trying to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks. “Oi! What about me! I saved your ass back there! Don’t I get a thanks?” Ace growled back sarcastically. “No. You didn’t give me any of your food back at the other island so you get no thanks from me for the next two days” Luffy said stubbornly, puffing up his cheeks to prove his point. Ace rolled his eyes and kept running. </p><p>   Finally they stopped, choosing to rest by a river near the outskirts of town. Sabo wrung out his now clean shirt at the bank of the river as Ace carefully watched Luffy clean up near the shallow parts. Soon enough they were all lying by the edge of the river looking up at the sky. It was a clear blue and only a few clouds drifted by. Luffy was sound asleep muttering about meat and Sabo and Ace were quietly talking.</p><p>   “I’m getting real tired of this Ace” Sabo sighed. “Me too. We’ve been running around like this for so long trying to look for Dawn Island. Stupid Dadan. Why couldn’t she have just done her job and looked after us. Then we wouldn’t have been sent halfway across East Blue” Ace growled. Sabo simply shrugged. “You and I both know we’re not going to find Dawn Island. At the rate we’re going we could be heading the exact opposite direction of Dawn island. Face it Ace, we’re just going to have to make a new home for ourselves on another island” Sabo reasoned. Ace frowned but didn’t say anything. They both knew it was true. Neither of them knew much about navigation at their age and wouldn’t be caught dead asking an adult for help. Lord knows that's what got them in this situation in the first place. </p><p>   “Whatever” Ace huffed before turning over to pull Luffy closer to him. Sabo rolled his eyes but felt his eyes grow heavy as he heard the snores of his brothers. It wasn’t safe to sleep out here, there could be dangerous animals or the river could overflow and drown them or even worse, a person could find them. But, Sabo concluded, he could just rest his eyes for a bit. It had been a long day after all. </p><p>...</p><p>   “-id! Kid! You there? Oh god what if they're dead?!”<br/>
“Calm down, they are not dead. They seem pretty tired though. I don’t think they’ll wake up any time soon”<br/>
That’s when Ace decided to shoot up, panic swelling in his chest brought on by the unfamiliar voices. “Ooooor not” a lean man with blond hair sighed. “Pffff, good observation commander” a man with bread shaped red hair teased (it was called a pompadour if Ace remembered correctly). They were towering over the three boys with confused looks adorning their faces. Ace tensed before leaping back towards the tree the three boys took refuge under. “Woah now, no need to be all jittery, we didn’t mean to scare ya” the pompadour man said lifting his hands up in surrender while motioning for the other to do the same. The blond man scoffed but did so anyways as they both backed away from Ace, and more importantly his brothers. </p><p>   “We were just wondering why three kids like you were sleeping out here where animals or bad men could easily get to you” pompadour man smiled kindly. Ace wouldn’t fall for his tricks though, knowing fully well one of those ‘bad men’ could easily be him or his friend. “Yeah, you shouldn’t be out here sleeping. You have beds for a reason” the blond haired man pointed with a less than amused expression. </p><p>   “shuddup” Luffy grumbled, snuggling up to Sabo now that his other heat source was gone. The three were silent and still as Luffy got comfortable before going back to sleep, and then they continued. “We don’t have beds. Now leave us alone” Ace growled, slinking closer to his brothers. The two older men shared an unimpressed look before the yellow haired one finally spoke up. “So you don’t have a home? Orphans i’m guessing? We’ll take you to an orphanage. ones not too far from this island actually.” “No. we're not going to an orphanage. Just leave us alone” Ace glared, shoving Sabo lightly with his foot. The young blond blinked his eyes open before taking in what was going on. </p><p>   “Oh come on, Don’t be difficult. Are you runaways then? We can't just leave three kids alone and helpless so just let us help and this’ll all end sooner” the pompadour man whined. Sabo staggered to his feet glaring daggers at the two men as he tried to gather what was going on through what little context he had. “Ah! Maybe you can realize we’re trying to help!” pompadour smiled hopefully. “Who are you and what do you want from us” Sabo questioned shaking Luffy awake. Pompadour seemed to deflate at that, and Ace cheered on Sabo for his good work. Mentally weakening an opponent will give them an advantage in this already unfair match. </p><p>   “We’re apart of the Whitebeards. I’m Marco, the first division commander, and this is Thatch, the fourth division commander. We’re the good guys. Now just come with us and we can help you,” Marco urged, holding out his hand.</p><p>   Luffy, confused at what was going on, gave the man a low five. Silence stretched across the clearing for a long, awkward moment. They looked at each other in silence as Luffy looked around blearily. He still had a headache. Sabo then grabbed Luffy’s arm and bolted towards the forest, Ace not far behind.</p><p>   “Hey! Wait!” Thatch shouted, running after them.</p><p>   Ever-suffering, Marco let out a deep sigh before running after his stupid crew mate. This was going to be a long day.</p><p>...</p><p>   “How can such short legs run so fast?” Thatch shouted out towards his brother, gritting his teeth as another branch hit his face. Marco managed to shrug while running, never losing sight of the boys.</p><p>   “Maybe you're just slow? You could have pecked at the galley supplies a bit too often,” Marco jokes. Thatch let out an indignant squawk at that and shouted blasphemy, speeding up his pace to match his brothers.<br/>
“You know I would never,” Thatch proclaimed, getting hit in the head by another branch. </p><p>   “Strange things happen at sea,” Marco said.</p><p>   “If you can joke you can run! Just try and catch us you old bags!” the freckled child shouted ahead of them, sticking out his tongue while looking back at them. The blond kid smacked his brother on the head and shouted at him.</p><p>   “Ace, you idiot! Don't provoke them!” Sabo exclaimed, gripping Luffy's hand tighter. Marco noticed that the smallest boy was lagging behind a bit, though his speed was still impressive despite that. The two elder siblings kept glancing towards the youngest boy with worry. </p><p>   Marco filed that information away for later.</p><p>   “You're calling ME the idiot? You're the one who was supposed to keep watch!” Ace shot back.</p><p>   “We never agreed to that!”</p><p>   “Well I thought it went unspoken!” </p><p>   “Ooooh i’m surprised you know such a big word,”</p><p>   “Unspoken isn't a big word! Even Luffy knows it!”</p><p>   The two siblings went back and forth while skillfully dodging the tree branches and roots sticking up from the ground. The two Whitebeard commanders, meanwhile, were bewildered. One second the brothers were fearing for their lives, and the next they were taunting each other in a harmless manner. Thatch pegged them to be the type who were more subdued. Hurt and scared and only in it for survival. But here, they looked like normal kids. Thatch wouldn't be surprised if they forgot the older men were even there. But Marco knew better.</p><p>   They were trying to lower their guards to make their fight or flight easier. They wanted to confuse Marco and Thatch and dash away the second they blinked too long. Cheeky tactic, and one that had saved them countless times, if Marco had to guess by the skill it was carried out in. Though the on edge nature and general fear of them irked Marco. What happened to these kids? He quickly got lost in thought. </p><p>   Marco had a few seconds to ponder this before the floor underneath him disappeared, giving way to a sheer cliff drop. He quickly grabbed onto a root sticking out and shouted “Thatch! Stop!” before his friend followed him. Thankfully, Thatch screeched to a halt just in time to not be thrown into a horrible and gruesome death. Thatch took a second to catch his breath before helping Marco back up onto the ledge. </p><p>   “Damn! What about the kids?” Thatch asked, staring towards the bottom of the cliff. </p><p>   “They’re fine. I didn't see them fall and the tree branches below us aren't broken,” Marco sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Thatch squinted his eyes, straining to see the forest below them. And sure enough, the trees looked unmarred by any falling children. He let out a sigh of relief before a look of dread crossed his face.</p><p>   “Wait. So if they saw it and got away, that means…” </p><p>   “They wanted us to fall to our deaths.” Marco helpfully finished.</p><p>   “Damn… why on earth would they think killing us was the only reasonable option. Kids these days are just wild,” Thatch groaned, slumping against a tree.</p><p>   “Maybe they never learned of another option,” Marco thought aloud. “Kids aren't the only ones growing wild these days.” Thatch looked miserable at hearing his brother say that, but knew it was the truth. Those poor kids have probably been taught by adults that death was the cure-all for when they were in a pinch. And that made Thatch’s blood boil. No kid should have to learn that or act that way. They need to spend their day laughing and playing and not running for their lives. With a hardened resolve, thatch straightened his back and marched into the forest, looking for signs of where they could have gone.</p><p>   “Are you still going to look for them? After they tried to kill us?” Marco asked, following him at a leisurely pace. </p><p>   “Especially because they tried to kill us! I can't rest easy knowing those kids are out there suffering because their caretakers just decided not to do their jobs. I'm going to find the best orphanage out there and make sure they get raised properly!” Thatch declared with a determined glint in his eyes. </p><p>   No sooner had he said that had a little, upside down face appeared in front of him. </p><p>   “Ne, old man, what does orpinaige mean?” he asked sweetly, offering them a wide smile that stretched across his face. The two commanders blanked for a second before Marco answered.</p><p>   “It's pronounced orphanage.” </p><p>   “I said that.”</p><p>   “No you didn't.”</p><p>   “Yes I did.”</p><p>   Thatch just looked at the boy in wonder. It was the youngest boy from earlier! His legs were wrapped around a tree branch and he was hanging upside down, talking to them. An odd greeting, but not the oddest he’s seen. </p><p>   “No you didn't,”</p><p>   “Yeah I did.”</p><p>   “No you didn’t. You said orpinaige.” Marco said cooly. The child looked at him with wide, Owlish eyes. It was silent for a moment. A dragonfly buzzed past the young boy's face, taking his eyes with it. Then he stuck his tongue out at Marco and swung off the branch, scurrying off into the underbrush in pursuit of the little bug. He was a quick little brat and the denser part of the forest surrounding them made him almost impossible to follow. They lost track of him in under a second, leaving them in silence yet again. </p><p>   “That was odd,” Marco said, amusement clear in his voice. Thatch just punched his arm and huffed, making Marco chuckle. “C’mon, they can't be that far. I doubt the two older boys would go far without the little one.”</p><p>   “Why do you say that?” Thatch questioned. </p><p>   “Just a hunch.”</p><p>...</p><p> </p><p>   Ace and Sabo were leaning against a tree, enjoying the silence as they watched Luffy hop around the clearing, trying to catch a dragonfly. The little rascal disappeared for a few minutes after their discovery of the clearing, and Ace and Sabo nearly had a fit as they scrambled around the place looking for him. He showed up soon enough but after that they had to have at least one of them looking at him. They couldn’t risk losing him. Not like last time.</p><p>   “Ne, Sabo. Do you think they're dead?” Ace asked, eyes lazily following a bee dipping into the center of a flower. Sabo’s eyes flickered to him for a second before going back to Luffy. </p><p>   “Probably. Even if they survived, they wouldn't be looking for us. They thought they were dealing with regular kids. Now that they know what we can do, they probably think we're better off dead.” Sabo answered. He tipped his top hat up a bit as Luffy wandered over to them. Luffy sighed, flopping down on Aces stomach and surprising the dozing child. </p><p>   “Couldn't catch it?” Ace asked, adjusting to the new weight. </p><p>   “Couldn't catch it.” Luffy grumbled, curling up and hugging Ace’s midsection.</p><p>   “Hah! You shoulda eaten a devil fruit that would let you fly. Too bad you ate that lame rubber one,” Ace teased, making Luffy pout even more.</p><p>   “It's not lame!” he shouted, though his words were a bit slurred. He was getting awfully comfortable, and Ace was very warm, not to mention their last nap got interrupted…</p><p>   Before he could drift off, a low growl was heard and within seconds the three brothers were up and in their fighting positions. The bushes immediately ahead of them were rustling, hiding a creature who was ready to pounce at the boys. Sabo gripped his pipe harder and Ace gritted his teeth. Luffy was annoyed, having his second nap of the day ruined. He needed his sleep!</p><p>   A giant hoof emerged from the dark underbrush. Then a second. Then the head of a giant boar was seen, sharp tusks gleaming in the light. The three boys take a step back. It pawed the dirt, head low to the ground as it got ready to charge. Ace looked at Sabo, eyes urging him to think them up a plan, and fast. Sabo looked around wildly, trying to find anything that could help them. Back on Dawn island they could easily take down a herd of boars if they wanted to. Boar meat was practically a snack to them. But this boar, towering over them the size of a bear, was something none of them had fought before. Sure, they had tried to fight the Tiger Lord back on Dawn, the giant tiger who ruled the forest with a mighty paw. But that was back home, where they knew every nook and cranny and could easily climb up into their tree house if any of them got seriously hurt. And they never even won against it. They were completely unprepared to handle this. </p><p>   But they had to. Fate has flung them into this situation and there was no turning back. Sabo sighed. He could feel a headache coming on. </p><p>   “My head hurts too much to think of anything good Ace. There's nothing here that can help us. I can hear a river near us though, and if we’re lucky it will be deep enough for the boar to not follow us. However, we’re going to have to slow him down first. Can you and Luffy do that while I figure out which direction we need to go?” Sabo whispered over to his brother, lowering his body closer to the ground. Luffy perked up when he heard his name, and looked over to Sabo with a smile. </p><p>   “We totally can!” Luffy shouted, causing Boar to charge. Ace cursed, grabbing Luffy as he swerved left, trusting Sabo to be fine on his own. </p><p>   “Luffy, wrap your arms around those two trees. I gotta get something. Sabo!” Ace shouted over to his blond brother. “Distract it for a second before you try and find where the river is!” Sabo nodded from the other side of the clearing, shouting as loud as he could to get the beasts attention. Ace sprinted towards the center of the clearing, grabbing the nearest sharp rocks, and running back towards Luffy. Said younger brother was firmly wrapped around two trees, offering the perfect slingshot for what Ace had planned. </p><p>   Sabo was running towards them now, having caught onto what Ace was doing. The boar was right on his tail, but Sabo trusted his brothers. Luffy ran back as far as his arms could stretch, letting Ace push him a few extra feet before they turned back. Sabo’s eyes caught onto Ace’s and they both smiled. </p><p>   “DUCK!” </p><p>   And Sabo did just that. Luffy let himself be swung forward, catching Ace as he went. And just like that, Ace was sent flying towards the beasts head, the points of the rocks jutting out towards the boars forehead. The boar was sent flying back and Ace landed on it, digging the rocks as far into the animals head as they would go. </p><p>   “Now Sabo! Go find the river!” Ace yelled, and Sabo nodded, sprinting into the forest. Luffy untangled himself from the trees, rolling his arm back and shooting it forward in an attempt to do his Gomu Gomu pistol attack. It, like all of his attempts before, did little damage as it bounced off the boars thick hide. Little damage, mind you. Not no damage. The boar squealed as it staggered away from the rubber hand, trying to shake Ace off of its head. It was successful in its third attempt, and Ace was sent flying into a tree trunk, his back slamming against the bark in a painful thud. </p><p>   Before the boar could charge at him, Luffy threw a few rocks at it, drawing the attention towards himself. He ducked in between the trees outlining the clearing, laughing as the boar rammed into the trees. Then he felt his headache worsen and stumbled, gripping his head in pain. Those few moments were all the boar needed, as it charged the tree Luffy was hiding behind. He jumped out of the way, but got his leg clamped down by the tree. The bark pushed down roughly into his rubbery skin and Luffy hissed in pain, trying fruitlessly to pull his leg out from under it. </p><p>   Thankfully, Ace was up at this time and drew the attention of the boar back towards himself, yelling out to it. </p><p>   Luffy heard rustling coming from the bushes next to him and cried out, trying to get further from the shrubbery. </p><p>   “Shhh, Luffy, it’s only me,” Sabo said, crawling out of the bushes with more than a few scratches. Sabo looked over at Luffy apologetically before pushing the tree off his brother's leg with great effort. Luffy whimpered, but made no other sounds as he let Sabo pull him up. </p><p>   Ace was still distracting the creature when Sabo caught his attention. Sabo quickly motioned for him to follow them, and Ace sprinted over to them, the boar hot on his heels. They wasted no time booking it towards the direction Sabo came, though they were slowed down by Luffy's leg. Ace tisked at seeing the leg and scooped Luffy up bridal style, losing no momentum as he heard the rushing of water nearby. </p><p>   “To get to the other side of the river, we need to hop across slippery rocks. Don’t fall, or you’ll get sucked downstream,” Sabo warned, looking worriedly at Ace. Ace just shrugged him off and sprinted faster, hearing the boars heavy footsteps not far behind. </p><p>...</p><p>   Sabo was the first one up, though it wasn’t for very long. His one seeing eye looked around lazily, spotting blobs of color that refused to come into focus. He heard some talking, though he couldn’t tell who was talking or what was being said. His mind was sluggish and he looked down at his arm, eyes widening slightly as he saw a few tubes coming out of it. At least he thought they were tubes. They could just be strings. But then again, why would anyone tie strings to his arm? Sabo pouted, not used to being so clueless. He was the smart one of the group. He should be putting the pieces to the puzzle together and getting them out of wherever this was. But he was tired. So so tired. He could figure out what was happening later. He was too tired to bother now. His eye slipped shut. </p><p>   Ace was next, lasting a bit longer. He saw that he was in a white, sterile room with multiple other beds lining the walls. He looked to either side of him and saw Luffy and Sabo. They were all on beds in the corner of the white room, facing towards two swinging doors that led who-knows where. Ace mentally sighed. They were kidnapped again. Great. He tried to move to get up, but his limbs felt so heavy and the bed was so soft. When was the last time they had even slept in a bed? Too long. The pillow was as soft as a cloud and Ace’s head sunk into it like a fish in water. He felt comfortable... But he shouldn’t! He was in enemy territory and he needed to get him and his brothers out of here! But… No one was here right now, and his limbs were too heavy to move anyways. He could wait a little longer. He closed his eyes.</p><p>   Luffy was the last one to wake up, but he didn’t fall back asleep until his brothers woke up. He woke up feeling better than both his brothers, immediately surveying the area around him and his brothers conditions. Sabo had new gauze wrapped around his eyes and had a lot of tubes sticking out of him. Ace had some bandages wrapped around his head and arm, with only one tube sticking out of his arm. Then Luffy looked at himself. His ankle had a brace but it wasn’t broken, he could tell. He had bandages wrapped snugly around his arms and head, reminding him of how a snake would twist around their victim. Though, luffy thought, this snake is a healing snake! He had a tube attached to his arm like his brothers, but it didn’t look too important so he just tugged it off as he slid off the cot. The second his foot hit the ground a spike of pain shot up his leg. Ouch. He quickly shrugged it off and waddled towards Ace’s bed, trying to jump up onto the high cushion. His attempts were all futile, only causing his foot to hurt even more. </p><p>   Huh. he didn’t think this would happen. He just wanted to snuggle up next to his brother. Now he couldn’t get to his brother or back onto his own bed. Quite the situation he has found himself in. Luffy tried to voice these thoughts, but he ended up horribly mispronouncing situation. Maybe Ace could help him up onto the bed!</p><p>   “Ace. Hey Ace. Ace Ace Ace Ace Ace Ace. Hey Ace,” Luffy called, pulling on his brother's sheet. Said boy didn’t even twitch, sleeping too deeply to hear his younger brother's plight. Luffy huffed at this, crossing his arms in frustration. Well, in times like these, Luffy thought back to what Sabo told him. </p><p>   If you get lost in the forest, scream as lou- wait, no. he wasn’t lost in the jungle. If you can’t find us, go to the h- wait, that doesn’t work either. If we’re kidnapped and me and Ace are incapacitated, stay where you are and do not move. Luffy didn’t know what incapacitated meant, but he was pretty sure it meant fighting. His mind attached those two words because right after Sabo explained that to him, they were jumped and had to fight off the attackers. So, that rule must not be it either. </p><p>   Frustrated, Luffy wobbled over to the big doors in the front of the room. When in doubt, trust your instincts. And Luffy’s instincts always pointed him towards adventure. With a wide grin, he threw the doors open. </p><p>   They opened up to a deserted hallway, well lit and spotless. It was very clean. Luffy couldn’t remember the last time he had been in a building that didn’t have grime and rotten wood lining the walls. This seemed to be well taken care of. He walked down it, seeing the hallway diverge into three other hallways with doors on each wall. This place looked like a maze! Luffy hobbled down as many hallways as his little legs could take him, hiding from any wandering men and women that he saw. Luffy was thick headed, but he knew that he shouldn’t be seen. Years of experience taught him that. </p><p>   Soon enough the doors opened up and Luffy could see the sky. It was a cloudless day, the sun beating warmly down onto his skin. It was a perfect day all things considered. Luffy smiled in delight at the warmth, basking in it before hiding behind a barrel as someone walked by him. Then, a few more rushed out of the door, shouting about something. </p><p>   “One of the brats Thatch and Marco picked up is missing,” a big, burly man laughed while running towards a new door. </p><p>   “What? Are they dangerous?” a thinner man asked, his hands twitching in anticipation. He got a few laughs at that. </p><p>   “Dangerous? Please, they’re like, five. The only danger in this situation is if Anna kills us all for losing the kid,” a woman laughed, patting the man on the back. Then they dispersed, leaving Luffy to wander some more. With a quick surveillance, Luffy saw that he and his brothers were on a giant ship, much bigger than any they had been on before. The mast was a giant whale, fitting the rather grand theme. Luffy stuck close to the walls, slipping into the closest door he could see when a few more people spilled out of the door. </p><p>   He peeked out, looking through a crack in the door as he listened to more of the gossip. </p><p>   “The other two are awake now. The poor guys are freaking out over their missing brother. They wrecked the infirmary,” </p><p>   “What’d Anna do about that?”</p><p>   “She threatened them and explained the situation. They do have some spunk though. They barely flinched at Anna’s reprimanding!”</p><p>   The second man gave a low whistle of amazement. </p><p>   Luffy closed the door, sliding down it and letting out a deep breath. He got a bit too close to being caught for his liking. Giving himself a few seconds, he got up and looked around the room.</p><p>   It was a bedroom. It was a soft looking bed in the corner filled with pillows and a nightstand next to it. There were hundreds of pictures on the walls of many different people smiling and doing work and playing around. However, There was a specific one that caught his eye. It was in the center of the collage of pictures, almost blending in. It was of the two men they had seen in that other town! The one with the funny looking hair and the one that clearly said orpinage wrong. Looking closer, he almost looked like a pineapple! How funny. They had their arms wrapped around each others shoulders and were holding up peace signs to the camera with big smiles. Luffy giggled to himself as he looked at all the other pictures. In every single one of them, the people were smiling. Wide, toothy grins full of joy. Luffy found himself smiling back. They all looked like a giant, happy family. </p><p>   His smile dropped when he heard the door to the room swing open. He barely had time to scramble under the bed before the bread haired man walked in with heavy steps, sighing to himself as he plopped down on the bed. Luffy found himself staring at the man's boots.</p><p>   “Man, Anna’s gonna kill me,’ he laughed good-naturedly as he carded a hand through his hair. “Where the hell did that brat get off to now? You’d think with all the people on this ship it wouldn't be hard to find a kid.” He got up off the bed and walked towards the desk shoved in the center of the wall farthest from the bed. “Welp, they’ll find him eventually. Now I just hav’ta do this paperwork and finally go to bed. Today has been a wild one,” he laughed, sitting down to do said work. </p><p>   Now, Luffy could have taken this moment to quietly sneak out of the room as the man was preoccupied and get back to his brothers. But then again, Luffy was never one to do the most obvious thing, and his interest was piqued. He didn’t know what paperwork was. He knew what work was. Hauling wood and barrels and metals from one place to the next. But what was paperwork? He had to figure it out. And plus, the man looked nice enough. So with that in mind, he wiggled out from under the bed and silently crept up behind the man. He would have peered over his shoulder if he had been tall enough, but curse his short legs, he still couldn't see what was on the desk. Luffy pondered this for a second, before realizing that he was no good at pondering. That was Sabo’s job after all. So he just did what he thought best. He climbed up the back of the chair and placed his chin on the man's shoulder. </p><p>   “Ne, bread hair, what's paperwork?”</p><p>   The following shriek did not, at all, sound like it belonged to a man.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. welcome aboard!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>luffy gets yelled at, Marco is tired, Whitebeard is beyond amused by our certain spitfire, and none of this is new.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Holy Shit!” the man yelled, falling backwards on the chair. Luffy jumped away as fast as he could, cringing when a loud bang was heard. Thatch scrambled to stand up, looking around the room for enemies when he spotted the child, sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor of his room only a few feet away. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Thatch’s shoulders fell and he relaxed out of his battle stance. </p><p>   “Jeez kid, you nearly gave me a heart attack.” he said, clutching his chest to emphasize his point. Luffy just smiled up at him. Thatch sat down on the floor, staring directly at him. “So, you were here the whole time, huh? You sneaky brat,” he said, his head swinging back as he let out a loud laugh. Luffy laughed with him, somewhat perplexed at how he felt so comfortable around this complete stranger. </p><p>   “Not the whole time. What's paperwork?” he asked again, not letting the subject drop. Thatch grimace, looking back to see all the paper scatter around his desk now. </p><p>   “It’s a special type of torture an evil man called your Boss gives you,” he grumbled, though he was only joking. Somewhat. </p><p>   “Whats torture?” luffy asked.</p><p>   “Aaaand that's enough questions for today. Let's get you back to your friends. They’re causing a fit about you. I thought one of them was gonna kill poor Izo when he told them they didn’t know where you were,” Thatch said, getting up and offering a hand to Luffy. He took it and hopped up onto his feet but didn’t let go of the hand, surprising Thatch. They looked at each other before Thatch understood what he wanted. In one swift movement Luffy was placed on Thatch’s shoulders with a happy laugh and they were out the door.</p><p>   Thatch was absolutely perplexed by the little child. He acted nothing like his other two friends. While they were closed off, secretive, and violent, he was as open as a book and friendly. The fact that the kids eyes practically pleaded for him to pick him up was a testament to that. He was like a foil of the other two. It was awfully jarring. They all looked so close, so you would have thought they would act the same. Thatch was pulled out of those thoughts as Luffy laughed happily and looked around the ship. They were on the deck now and were getting many strange and amused stares, but Luffy just looked around in awe and patted Thatch’s hair when he saw something worth noting. He smiled, realizing just how much of a child this kid was.</p><p>   They got to the infirmary soon enough and Thatch picked Luffy off his shoulders and placed him onto the ground. Luffy smiled and shoved open the doors, stopping to take in the scene. </p><p>   Ace and Sabo were tied up in chairs, back-to-back as a lady sat in the corner grumbling to herself and writing down furiously on a clipboard. Another lady with black hair and makeup on her face was talking to Ace, trying to get him to calm down as he squirmed around in his chair, trying to get out. Sabo was fuming, glaring at the floor his feet barely brushed. When he heard the door open his head snapped up and his eyes widened when he saw Luffy. Tears threatened to spill as he yelled out “Luffy!” in a choked voice. Luffy's smile immediately dropped as he ran towards his brothers. The lady talking to Ace took a few steps back in surprise. </p><p>   Luffy jumped up onto Sabo's chair, hugging his brother for only a second before he looked up with big, apologetic eyes. He jumped down and worked on untying the rope. Ace was trying to swerve to see his youngest brother. </p><p>   “Luffy! Are you okay? What happened?” he asked, panic lacing his voice. Luffy was too busy trying to swallow the lump in his throat to answer. The knot was finally undone and the two boys quickly shoved off the rope, rushing to engulf their brother in a hug. </p><p>   “What happened?” Sabo asked, trying to act like he wasn’t just about to cry. </p><p>   “Did they hurt you? Are you okay?” Ace asked, pulling away to look at the boy. His eyes focused on the brace for a second before looking at the bandages. Luffy looked up at the two of them with big, sad eyes.</p><p>   “I’m sorry Ace, Sabo. I didn’t mean to scare you, really! I’m okay. All of these are from the boar.” Luffy cried, pressing his face against Sabo's chest. Sabo huffed but held him closer, letting a hand stroke his brother's hair. </p><p>   “Okay, but where were you? Why’d you leave?” Sabo asked. </p><p>   “I was explorin’ the ship. We’re on a ship by the way. It's really big. I got out of bed so I could get to you, Ace, but the bed was too high up and you wouldn't wake up so I decided to explore! Then I ended up in Bread hair’s room and he was doing paperwork, which is a special type of torture apparently. Sabo, whats torture? Uhm, never mind, then he found me and he took me back here and then this happened and now i'm explaining it,” Luffy finished lamely, looking up at Ace when he said his name. </p><p>   Ace looked beyond pissed.</p><p>   “Luffy! You idiot! We were worried sick! Didn’t you remember what we told you about us being.. Uh.. what was that word again Sabo?”</p><p>   “Incapacitated”</p><p>   “Yeah! Incapacitated! We told you to not go anywhere when we were incapacitated!” Ace yelled, shaking Luffy by his shoulders. </p><p>   “I thought incapacitated meant fighting!” Luffy shouted back in defense. </p><p>   “It means asleep you dummy!” Ace yelled, lightly punching Luffy on the head.</p><p>   That's when the lady with the clipboard finally spoke up.</p><p>   “Hey! No hitting each other! You lot still have wounds that need to heal! And all your moving around has done no good for your leg. Into bed, all of you!” Anna, the doctor, screamed. Ace and Sabo both simply shot her a glare and pulled Luffy closer to them. They backed up, backs hitting the wall as they looked at the newcomer Luffy helpfully supplied as “bread hair.” </p><p>   “We have no reason to trust you. What do you even want with us? Revenge, For the whole cliff incident?” Sabo asked, recognizing the man. The two ladies in the room looked over questioningly at Thatch, while said man scratched the back of his head nervously. </p><p>   “Uh, no revenge. Marco and I aren’t mad about that. We just saw you get swept up by the river and decided to help you out. You were all pretty beat up,” Thatch explained carefully. Sabo eyed him skeptically as Ace’s face grew a deep red color. </p><p>   “The river? I can’t remember what happened after we found the river…” Ace said, looking to be in deep thought. </p><p>   “You slipped on the rocks and, uh, Sabo? Was it? Sabo dove in after you two,” Thatch said, pointing to Luffy and Ace.</p><p>   “Didn’t do much but put all three of you in danger though, yoi,” a new voice said. In waltzed Marco, hands shoved into his pockets with a carefully blank face on. This only caused the two boys to stiffen more. </p><p>   “Yeah maybe, but that's neither here nor there,” Thatch waved off, hoping Marco’s comment didn’t offend the boys.  </p><p>   “It is currently here and was very much so there, Thatch,” Marco lazily said, sitting down on one of the cots closest to the door. </p><p>   “Well it doesn't matter much, what matters is that you boys got hurt, so we decided to fix you up! We’re not trying to hurt you or anything,” Thatch said, smiling over to the boys. Luffy smiled back but the other two boys just gave him glares. </p><p>   “Well if you just wanted to help us why did you kidnap us? You could have just patched us up then left us on the island!” Ace grumbled.</p><p>   “You weren’t waking up! We couldn’t leave three knocked out boys to fend on their own!” Thatch desperately reasoned.</p><p>   “It’s just a few hours, we would have been fine,” Sabo snapped, pulling Luffy’s head closer to his chest. There was silence for a few seconds before Sabo's eyes widened. Thatch looked to be in pain while Marco looked at them with unimpressed eyes. </p><p>   “Wait.. how long have we been asleep?” Sabo asked with panic in his eyes. Thatch looked over to Marco, pleading the man to answer for him. Marco sighed, standing up and walking over to the boys. He stopped a few feet away, far enough so the boys didn’t feel intimidated, and crouched down, sitting on the heels of his feet. </p><p>   “You’ve been asleep for three days, yoi. It seems like you boys really needed to rest. We waited for a bit but when you didn’t wake up we took you with us. We’re on a bit of a tight schedule so we couldn’t wait there. Sorry boys, but since you made it pretty clear you don't have anywhere to go or a place to stay I decided you wouldn't really be missing that place and no one would be looking for you, yoi. So you're stuck with us for a few days,” Marco said with half lidded eyes. He was trying to be as unthreatening as possible with his posture and voice. Ace looked about ready to implode while Sabo seemed to be processing all the new information. Luffy's eyes were wide in amazement. </p><p>   “Whoa! Three days! That's almost as long as that one time the smelly man gave us that weird smelling stuff and we were asleep for six days!” Luffy said in amazement. Sabo shushed him with a hand over his mouth. </p><p>   “Idiot, they don't need to know about that!” Sabo hissed. Luffy tried to apologies but was muffled by the hand. Marco looked at them with observant eyes, clearly storing that information away for later. </p><p>   “We’re Not just going to stay here while you take us who-knows-where! You could be slave traders for all we know!” Ace shouted with frantic eyes. His hands were shaking. “If you don't want to hurt us then drop us off at the closest island,” he sounded like he was trying for a demanding tone but it fell flat. </p><p>   “No can do buddy. The next island isn't for a couple of days and it has no inhabitants, not even animals. You’d starve to death,” Marco answered. </p><p>   “Well what's the next island that won't kill us?” Sabo asked.</p><p>   “About a month away. It's the one we're going to. Trust me, we don't want three brats waltzing around for a month either. But were not going to dump you on an island with no hope of survival. We’re not monsters,” Marco said, standing up.</p><p>   “That's still to be seen,” Sabo mumbled under his breath. He looked down to Luffy and then up to Ace, signaling them to form a group huddle. </p><p>   “They’re obviously lying. We can’t trust them. I say we take out chances with the island. There may not be food but we could build a boat,” Ace said. Sabo shook his head.</p><p>   “It’s too big of a risk. And it would take us forever to build a raft. Luffy, what do you think?” Sabo asked, ruffling his brother's hair. Luffy giggled and playfully swatted the hand away.</p><p>   “I like bread hair! And pineapple head seems nice enough,” Luffy smiled up at them, sealing the deal. Ace sighed and looked over towards the two men, now talking to the woman with makeup whose name he thought was Izo or something. </p><p>   “Oi! We’ll stay as long as you don't try any funny business,” Ace grumbled, crossing his arms. Sabo elbowed him and looked towards the adults with a polite smile. </p><p>   “What he meant to say was that we will graciously accept your offer. I’m sorry if we seemed rude, my brothers and I were just scared,” Sabo said, bowing politely. Thatch’s eyes widened. Wow, that almost fooled them. But years of experience has taught them how to spot when someone wasn’t telling the whole truth. The kid still didn’t trust them. He was being polite in the hopes that the adults would forgive them and not just throw them overboard. Marco sighed and carded a hand through his hair. </p><p>   “Well then, we’ll get you set up with a room. Don't think you can be a bunch of freeloaders though. You’ll be doing chores like the rest of the crew,'' Marco warned, beckoning the boys to follow him. They did so with hesitance, though as Thatch gave Luffy a thumbs up in support he decided to forgo his brothers shuffling and instead started dragging them by their hands.</p><p>   When only Thatch, Izo, and Anna were left in the clinic Izo finally spoke up. </p><p>   “Well then. I guess this’ll turn out to be an exciting trip after all,” the cross dresser said with amusement.</p><p>   “All our trips are exciting. This was the one trip where we were supposed to have a break!” Anna shouted in frustration.</p><p>   “When do we ever get a break, An?” Thatch asked playfully.</p><p>   “Never! Never! I live with a bunch of ruffians with no self preservation! That's why!” Anna shouted back, throwing her hands up in exasperation as she walked away. “I should have stayed in that hospital! Why did I decide to follow you idiots to sea!”</p><p>   “Aww Anna, you don’t mean that! You know you love us,”</p><p>   “Why do you think I haven't nabbed a boat and sailed away yet? You lot would be long dead without me,” Anna growled and Thatch laughed. Izo sighed with a smile. His family was in for a treat when they realized how long the brats are going to stay. </p><p> </p><p>...</p><p> </p><p>   Marco was trying to explain to them where they were going but, try as he might, he couldn’t keep the boys' attention. The youngest would point to things he thought were cool and happily chat with his brothers about it. The blond haired kid seemed fascinated by all the different crew mates, especially the radical looking ones like the fishmen. The freckled one looked like he would rather burn the ship down than talk with anyone other than his brothers. Marco gave up on trying to talk to the three boys, instead settling on swinging open the doors that lead to the deck. Luffy had previously been on the deck, but had failed to notice the giant, empty seat overlooking it all. Maybe the fact that the seat was now occupied had brought the boys attention back. The massive frame a wide smile definitely caught them off guard as they peered up at the man.</p><p>   “Boys, this is Whitebeard, the captain of the ship and the strongest man alive,” Marco proclaimed with pride, grinning up at the man.</p><p>   “Marco!” the man laughed, his voice booming and loud. “So these are the brats you and Thatch picked up. You're starting to take after me now,” he said with a wink and a belly deep laugh. Marcos' face grew red as he sighed loudly.</p><p>   “Well, introduce yourselves brats. You'll be staying on my ship for quite a while and we can’t keep calling you brats,” Whitebeard said. </p><p>   Marco rolled his eyes with a smile and said, “You might, but they'll still be brats to me.” Ace and Luffy grumbled about not being brats before Sabo spoke up.</p><p>   “My name is Sabo, and these are my two brothers Ace and Luffy. Thank you for graciously letting us stay aboard and for healing us,” he said, bowing curtly. Whitebeard laughed at that, waving the young boy off with a large hand. </p><p>   “No need to be so polite. We’re pirates after all! You’re welcome to stay for as long as you'd like, though judging by your brother's expression, that won't be very long,” he smiled, motioning towards a scowling Ace. It took Sabo only a second to realize what Ace was about to do, and before he could stop him the words were out. </p><p>   “So you’re the strongest man alive, huh?” Ace questioned, hands on his hips in a defiant manner. “Well, I'm going to become a famous pirate, and I decided that the first step to that will be killing you! Then everyone will remember me!” he proclaimed, putting a thumb to his chest before pointing towards the large man. To say the older man was shocked would be an understatement. He looked down at his newest guest in bewilderment. A child, no older than 13, was threatening the strongest man alive? Even the crew stopped what they were doing to look at the child in bafflement. Then, the whole deck was an uproar of laughter. Even Marco was hunched over laughing. Luffy, not knowing what was going on, laughed with them. Sabo put his head in his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose.</p><p>   “We’re so dead,” he muttered over and over again, almost accepting of the fact. Aces face was a deep shade of red after the first minute.</p><p>   “What are you bastards laughing at? I’ll kill you all!” Ace shouted, shaking his fist out towards the crew, who just laughed louder. Whitebeard's laugh was the loudest of all, sweeping across the deck in loud waves. </p><p>   “You’ve got spunk, I'll give you that!” he grinned. “I’m glad you picked up these brats, Marco! They'll certainly make this trip interesting! Grarararara! Welcome aboard the Moby dick, Ace, Sabo, Luffy!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I cant believe I got three comments on the first day! That's amazing! That was the main drive to get this one out as fast as I did. Thank you for your wonderful comments! I was wondering, would you guys like it if I incorporated some of your head cannons into the story? Not big stuff, just little quirks the crew or the ASL trio could have? I think that could be fun, so do comment your head cannons and if I think they could work in the story then ill add them! Thank you for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. settling in</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>the trio get settled and Izo is the best, as always.<br/>read the authors note!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After that eventful meeting, Marco showed the boys to their room. It was, admittedly, not a nice room. It was set up in a rush due to no one having the foresight of making them a room while they were asleep. It was a small room, close to the back of the ship that had easy access to the deck. Some of the crew members had wanted them to be deeper in the belly of the ship so they could watch over them, but by the way the boys acted made that seem like more than a bad idea. Marco didn't want the boys to think they were being watched or guarded, so he chose a spot on the ship that had the least amount of activity. It was still very active with the hustle and bustle of any pirate ship, let alone one with over a hundred crew mates. But, it had less people than normal mulling around. </p><p>   The room itself was what some might call a glorified closet. It was incredibly cramped, with the bed and desk only a few feet apart. There was a coat rack next to the door, complete with three coats much too big for the children to fit, but still the smallest sizes they could find on board. Haruta was kind enough to offer them, yet the smallest commander was still too big for the boys. The bed was shoved in the corner, just big enough for the three children to fit in with a desk pushed to the opposite corner with a few papers and a pencil scattered about on it. One of the crew mates had put that there in case Luffy wanted to draw, but by the way Sabo seemed to eye them, Marco thought that they would be put to a different use.</p><p>  Now, he was no idiot, and Marco was well prepared to hear the three boys complain about the space, but he heard nothing when he pushed open the door. He cast lazy eyes down towards the boys, trying to gauge their responses. Their eyes were wide and they were holding their breaths. Then, suddenly, Sabo smiled.</p><p>   “Whoah,” he breathed, walking over to the bed and hopping up onto it. He bounced on it a few times and smiled wider as the springs rebounded. This brought Ace and Luffy to their senses and they walked into the room. Ace slowly meandered over to the desk, opening the draws to find a bunch of little trinkets Thatch managed to dig up from his room. How he had so many little objects and toys was beyond Marco. There were little puzzle games and wooden animals carved by one of the crew members that deemed them unfit to send to her daughter, though Marco didn’t know why. Their wood was smooth and polished, with intricate designs on the puzzles and cute expressions carved into the animals faces. Ace picked up one of the puzzle games, a maze with a little ball inside of it. It was small and wooden, with its edges chipped and the wood worn (clearly one of Thatch’s contributions), but Ace looked at it with such wonder Marco would have thought he had given a puppy to the boy. </p><p>   Luffy was trying to pull one of the gigantic coats off of the coat rack while failing miserably, too short to unhook. Marco took pity and unlatched the coat from the hook, watching the little boy get lost in the fabric as it engulfed his form. He could hear giggles from under the mass of cotton and wool. </p><p>   “Ne, Pineapple head, are these our blankets?” Luffy asked, sticking his head out from under the pile. Marco laughed and lifted the coat off of the boy, choosing to ignore the nickname. For now.</p><p>   “No, these are the sorry excuses for coats my crew mates offered you boys. Your blankets are on the bed,” mentioning the bed, Marco looked over to it and saw Sabo sprawled out on it, a sleepy grin on his face. </p><p>   “I haven’t slept in a bed in ages!” Sabo smiled happily, pulling Luffy up when he walked over.</p><p>   “I’ve never slept in one before,” Ace remarked. He made it sound like no big deal, but Marco was perplexed. If they were brothers, how had one slept in a bed while the other hasn’t? These three were an enigma. Ace walked over to the bed and hopped up onto it, testing it out with a few bounces before flopping face first next to his brothers. Sabo looked over towards Marco, who was still leaning against the door frame. </p><p>   “Thank you very much, Marco.” He nodded his head politely towards the older man. Marco shook his head with a smile. </p><p>   “No need. I'm surprised you’re even happy with it. It's admittedly one of our worst rooms,” he laughed, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. The three boys looked over at him in curious disbelief. </p><p> “Well, you all look close to passing out, but before you do that we need to get you cleaned up. You brats are really dirty if you haven't noticed,” he said, beckoning them out of the room and down the corridors. Soon enough they were in the washroom, which looked to be deserted. </p><p>   “I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to talk to Izo about getting some new clothes for you as you clean up,” Marco said with a wave as he walked out of the bath house, shutting the door behind him. The three boys stood in silence for a few moments before Ace looked over towards his brothers.</p><p>   “Okay, I’m not the only one weirded out by this? They’re so nice to us but they barely even know us!” Ace said, confusion clear on his face. Luffy ignored him, walking over to the warm bath in front of him. He started to pull off his shirt.</p><p>    “I don’t know Ace, it is pretty weird but they all seemed genuine about letting us off at the nearest island. And I really don’t think that if they were going to use us as slaves that they would give us a whole room with toys and blankets. I think they’re telling us the truth,” Sabo reasoned.</p><p>   “People tricked us with niceness before. Why’s this any different?” Ace asked, crossing his arms in annoyance. </p><p>   “Because this time they have no reason to! They already have us trapped on their ship and we wouldn't stand a chance against even one of their crew members! Think about it logically Ace, they have absolutely no reason to do all this stuff for us if they were just going to throw us into a cell!” Sabo yelled, hands spread out in exasperation.</p><p>   “I am thinking logically Sabo! I’m not immediately trusting these strangers! What's gotten into you?” Ace yelled back, grabbing the collar of Sabo's shirt in a tight fist. </p><p>   “Nothing’s gotten into me! I figured that if there's nothing we can do about the situation, we can at least enjoy the pampering before it's ripped from us! Hell, you still have that puzzle from the room in your pocket! You should enjoy this Ace! God knows it’s the last time you're going to be able to play with something like that after they drop us off or sell us or whatever,” Sabo ranted. </p><p>   Ace was about to retort but both their heads turned to a splash, seeing Luffy falling into the pool. Ace cursed before jumping in, pulling Luffy up after a few seconds. Luffy sputtered a bit but smiled when Ace dropped him onto the floor. </p><p>   “Thanks Ace! I thought I was gonna die for sure! Shishishi!” he laughed, waving as Sabo sauntered over. He let out a sigh and shrugged off his ratty shirt.</p><p>   “Idiot, why’d you fall into the tub?” Ace huffed.</p><p>   “I wanna get cleaned,” came Luffy's simple answer. </p><p>   “I guess we can discuss this later,” Sabo sighed. “Let's get cleaned up. You guys smell like garbage,” He playfully jabbed, jumping into the bath. Ace scoffed, but didn’t retort. He helped Luffy take off his brace before taking off his shorts. Once they were done with that Ace gently lowered Luffy into the water before joining his brothers. </p><p>   “Aw heck…” Luffy mumbled sleepily as Sabo washed his hair. Ace made a questioning hum. “I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to thank you for two days,” he said, remembering his declaration from when they were running away from the slave traders. Ace rolled his eyes in amusement. </p><p>   “We were asleep for three days, dummy. I can get a thank you now.”</p><p>   “But that doesn’t count ‘cause we were incip… increp… incrapacidated!” </p><p>   “Incapacitated, Luffy,” Sabo corrected.</p><p>   “That's what I said”</p><p>...</p><p>   Marco closed the door to the washroom and made his way to Izo’s room, hoping the man had some spare cloth left to use for the kids clothes. The man had a tendency to use up all of his fabric in a fit of inspiration one night and be left with nothing until they reached the next trading island. </p><p>   He swung open the door and saw Izo, as expected. What he didn’t expect was to see him hovering over three small mannequins, each donning clothes fit for little kids. Really distinct little kids. One had on a light blue long sleeved shirt and denim shorts. The other had on a red tank top with a little breast pocket and beige cargo shorts. The last one had on an yellow T-shirt with a little anchor symbol stitched towards the bottom and shorts with the cuffs rolled up. Marco glanced at Izo with an expression that said “really?” Izo just smiled and ushered Marco in.</p><p>   “I knew you would be asking for these soon! I made them when we set sail because I couldn’t bare seeing them in those nasty old sacks anymore. I asked Thatch about what they were like and I put this together! He said that the freckled one was a spitfire, and boy was he right from what i could tell in the clinic, so I thought that red suited him best! And the little one was so happy, and yellow symbolizes happiness you know, so I thought that would work. I completely winged it on the blond brats outfit though. I hope he likes it,” Izo rambled, looking worriedly towards Sabo’s outfit. Marco just laughed in disbelief.</p><p>   “Izo, I'm sure he’ll like it. You’re one hard worker,” Marco complimented, letting out a low whistle. Izo smiled over at him and started taking the clothes off the first mannequin. </p><p>   “I didn’t get their measurements so they’ll be a bit loose. I'm sure they’ll manage though. From what little I saw of them they seem like resilient little brats, so some baggy clothes won't deter them much,” he commented, neatly folding up the clothes and handing them to Marco.  </p><p>   “Deter them from what exactly?” Marco asked, quirking and eyebrow. He took the clothes.</p><p>   “They seem like a rowdy bunch. I'm sure they’ll get into a lot of trouble while they’re on the ship. It won't deter them from being themselves I suppose.” came Izo’s response. </p><p>   “Well, as nice as that would be I don’t think we’ll see them being themselves in what little time we have. They’re secretive. They don’t trust us,” Marco replied, walking towards the door. Izo frowned at that but didn’t say anything else. Before Marco left, he shot Izo a glance.</p><p>   “Thank you. They’ll love the clothes,” he left Izo with that, taking long strides towards the washroom. Izo stared at the closed door for a few more moments before looking around his mess of a room. He huffed, cleaning up his work space.</p><p>   “They better love em’. I didn’t just make em’ out of obligation after all.”</p><p>...</p><p>   Marco knocked lightly on the door, waiting for an affirmative to come in. He didn’t want to scare the boys with a rude entrance. When he didn’t hear one he asked “Can I come in?” Still, nothing. His brows furrowed. </p><p>   “I’m coming in!” he said with a raised voice. In the wash house he saw the three boys still in the bath. Sabo had his arms hung over the side, eyes closed with his head resting on the rim of the bath. Ace had Luffy tucked in his arms, his head resting on the top of Luffy's head. He was also asleep, as well as Luffy, who rested his head against Ace’s chest. He let out a bemused huff and walked over to place the clothes on a nearby stool before clearing his throat.</p><p>   “Well, this is cute and all but you brats need to get up and put some clothes on, or else you’ll get sick. And we don’t need that on top of all your injuries. Now get up before you all become raisins,” Marco said, waking the boys with a start. Ace glared at him while Sabo had the decency to look embarrassed. Luffy took a longer time looking up, almost as if his head weighed as much as a bowling ball. His eyes blinked sluggishly and his smile seemed to take too long stretching across his face. Marco was slightly unnerved by this and hurried the boys out of the bath, only leaving to let them get dressed. His mouth was set in a thin line as the boys emerged from the room, clean and dressed in the new clothes Izo made them.</p><p>    Ace and Sabo were still a bit sluggish in their movements, but Luffy showed no signs of his previous lethargy. Marcos brows furrowed even further as he lead them back to their room. When the door opened Ace almost immediately lumbered over to the bed and fell face first into it with a puff. Luffy excitedly ran after him and tried jumping up onto the bed as well. Like last time, he couldn’t, so Ace leaned over the side and pulled him up by his hands, placing him in the space next to him. Sabo smiled at them before turning to Marco and thanking him again. </p><p>   “Listen, you don’t have to thank me for every little thing, brat. You’re our unconventional guests and it's only fitting for us to treat you well, considering we dragged you out here without your permission, yoi,” Marco said, reaching to pat the blonds head. Sabo's eyes widened slightly and he quickly ducked out of the way, bumping into the coat rack and making a rather loud bang.  Ace shot up and Luffy looked over, anxiety adorning both their faces. Marco stared at him with unreadable eyes, then his brows furrowed (for the umpteenth time) and he retracted his hand, walking backwards until he stood in the threshold of the room, putting his hand on the door knob. </p><p>   “I’m sorry for scaring you Sabo. Hope you all have a nice night, yoi. If you need anything, I’ll be in my room.” and with that, Marco stepped out of the room and closed the door quietly. Ace looked at the door for a few more seconds as Luffy slipped off of the bed and walked over to Sabo, placing a hand on the shocked boys shoulder. Sabo sent a worried look over to the boy. Luffy just shrugged and tugged the older boys hand over towards the bed. Sabo gave no resistance and pushed Luffy up onto the bed before hopping up himself. </p><p>   “You okay?” Ace asked in a gruff voice, trying to sound like he didn’t care. He totally did and both Sabo and Luffy knew this. </p><p>   “Yeah, he just startled me a bit. I hope he didn’t take offence to it though… If this goes south, we need to think of something. Ace, you were right about us not trusting them completely, but i still stand by what I said. We need to make a contingency plan,” Sabo sighed, carding a hand through his hair. </p><p>   “When I was exploring I saw a few small boats on the side of the ship,” Luffy piped up, hoping that was helpful. Sabo smiled over at him gratefully.</p><p>   “That's perfect! If these people do turn out to be slave sellers then we’ll hop onto one of their life boats!” Ace said, hitting the side of his fist to his open palm, as if he had just made a great revelation. </p><p>   “Well we can't all go to different boats. Then we’d get separated.” Sabo said, letting that reality sink into the two other boys. Their faces grew scared at the very thought, and Luffy gripped Ace’s hand tighter while reaching for Sabos. He squeezed Luffy's hand back and spoke again. “Tomorrow we can scout out what boat is closest and if we get split up while in a bad situation, we can all know to go to that specific boat, okay?” He asked, looked Ace in the eyes for a long, serious moment before doing the same to Luffy. They both readily nodded. </p><p>   “Good. Now let's all sleep,” Sabo yawned, stretching his arms out before falling onto Luffy. Luffy laughed and tried to wiggle out of his brothers grasp to no avail. Ace smiled at their antics and fell down onto Sabo's back, giving the boy a taste of his own medicine. Sabo laughed in surprise and proceeded to do the same as Luffy. Once it was clear that Ace wouldn’t let either of them go Sabo laughed his surrender, also freeing poor Luffy from the weight. They were all a giggling mess, but were beyond tired, so Ace trudged over to the desk and blew out the candle before heading back towards the bed, snuggling up close to his brothers. </p><p>   “G’night dummys,” Ace murmured.</p><p>   “And to you, loser,” Sabo retorted back in fake politeness.</p><p>   There was silence before Luffy spoke. </p><p>   “What does contignency mean”</p><p>   “Good Night!” came both his brothers exasperated cries, and Luffy laughed and pulled the blanket closer.</p><p>...</p><p>   In the largest room of the ship sat whitebeard, a bottle of sake in one hand and the newspaper in the other. He stared at it with lazy eyes, skimming over Shank’s latest escapades, news of rising pirate rookies, and marine propaganda. Then his eyes widened, just a fraction. In a small corner of the page, with the smallest text, was an article. It was about two paragraphs long, though the sentences were short and choppy. It told of a new pirate who destroyed a village in the south blue. The picture of the man showed a gaunt man with deep bags under his eyes and a scowl on his face. His hair was thin and oily, yet his clothes looked high class. His face was wrinkly, yet somehow youthful? Like the wrinkles were made by pulling his skin back too far. He looked… appalled. At everything. He looked like the world was a cesspool he had accidentally stepped in. Whitebeard didn’t like that look at all. He sighed and headed to his bed, deciding he would go to sleep early tonight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm thinking of adding your headcannons to the story if they fit with the plot, so if you have some character headcannons for the commanders of the trio, comment! If i think they'll work i'd be happy to add them.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Updates will be a bit slow but I will not abandon this fic. hope you like it! Comments get me working faster! I accept criticism as well so don't be afraid to tell me if the pacing is bad or some parts were confusing to follow. I wrote the first part about a year ago, so its a bit wonky but some parts amused me enough to not scrap the whole thing. hope you enjoyed!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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